Aztecs to play UNLV at the Mack

UNLV's Anthony Bennett looks to the crowd after scoring two points against Northern Iowa in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game on Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Gurzinski)
— AP

UNLV's Anthony Bennett looks to the crowd after scoring two points against Northern Iowa in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game on Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Gurzinski)
/ AP

UNLV lost at Air Force by 15 points on Wednesday night. The Rebels lost at last-place Fresno State by nine. They never led at sixth-place Boise State. They are 1-5 on the road in the Mountain West this season and have lost four straight, and over the past two years they have a single conference road victory in regulation.

But here’s the problem for San Diego State on Saturday night: UNLV isn’t on the road.

The Aztecs flew home from No. 24 Colorado State late Wednesday night after an agonizing 66-60 loss that extended the Rams’ home win streak to 27 … and began prepping for a UNLV team that is 31-1 in its last 32 regular-season games at the Thomas & Mack Center, including 13 straight against Mountain West opponents.

SDSU coach Steve Fisher put it like this Monday: “I would venture to say that no team in America could have as a tough two-game road swing that we’re about to embark on.”

The Rebels’ lone conference road win this season came at Viejas Arena last month, and now the Aztecs (18-6, 6-4) get to play them at a place where they average 11.6 more points than on the road, where they make 45.5 percent of their shots and 34.4 percent of their 3s.

Where the Rebels (18-7, 5-5) handled No. 15 New Mexico 64-55 four days before getting drilled at Air Force.

“I told the guys yesterday at practice, it wasn’t the same team,” Coach Dave Rice said on XX 1090 radio Friday. “It did not even resemble the same Runnin’ Rebels team that played New Mexico on Saturday.”

“There’s a big difference the way they play at home and on the road,” SDSU associate head coach Brian Dutcher said. “Their fast break is so much better at home.”

And therein lies the challenge for the Aztecs. Will they resist the temptation to run, too? Should they? Can they?

SDSU is one of the few teams this season that has tried to run with the Rebels, who are built for speed and, as Rice puts it, “prefer to play up and down, if at all possible.” The teams combined for 90 points in the first half in the Jan. 16 game at Viejas Arena; it was tied with 3½ minutes to go before the Rebels scored nine of the game’s final 11 points to hand SDSU its only home loss of the season.

The Aztecs fashion themselves as a running team, despite statistics that indicate otherwise. UNLV ranks 41st nationally in adjusted tempo, an esoteric measurement used by college basketball stat guru Ken Pomeroy to determine a team’s pace of play; SDSU ranks 153rd out of 347 Division I teams.

“We like to get up and down ourselves,” Dutcher said. “But we’ve got to the limit the other team’s fast-break opportunities, and I don’t think we did a particularly great job the first time we played them getting back. They really hurt us on the fast break.

“And we can’t run with them at their place – take a chance of running with them – like we would at home. We do not want to get in an up-and-down, crazy game with them at their place.”

It is a must-win?

Yes and no. Yes, in that a loss severely dents SDSU’s chances of chasing down New Mexico (8-2) and Colorado State (7-2) for a third straight regular-season Mountain West title. No, in that a loss probably does little damage to their NCAA Tournament prospects.

Both leading bracketologists – Jerry Palm of CBSSports.com and Joe Lunardi of ESPN – still had SDSU as a No. 6 and 7, respectively, in projections released Friday. The top computer ratings continue to smile on Aztecs, too. Pomeroy has them at No. 23, ahead of New Mexico (33) and UNLV (44). Jeff Sagarin has them at No. 29, Massey at No. 29, RPI at No. 30.

Win or lose Saturday, the Aztecs might as well get comfortable in Thomas & Mack. The Mountain West tournament is there in 3½ weeks and, the conference announced Friday, for the next three years as well.

It figures to be a popular decision among fans making the annual pilgrimage to Sin City, and not among the visiting coaches.

“I wish a decision like that had been postponed until we had our coaches meeting in May, allow all the coaches to voice their feelings and have the potential to maybe explore other options,” Fisher said. “It’s very obvious we’re all better at home than we are on the road, and it gives UNLV a huge home-court advantage.

“If we want to say we’re all competing on an even playing field, we’re not. And we’re playing to get in the NCAA Tournament. Vegas this year has been sensational at home. I’m not happy with it. I’m sure there are other coaches in our league who are not happy with it.”

SDSU at UNLV

Site/time: Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas/6 p.m. Saturday.

TV/radio: NBC Sports Network/600-AM, 101.5-FM.

Records: SDSU is 18-6, 6-4; UNLV is 18-7, 5-5.

Last time: UNLV won 82-75 at Viejas Arena on Jan. 16 to hand SDSU its only home loss of the season. Anthony Bennett led the Rebels with 20 points, eight rebounds and five assists.

Aztecs outlook: No team has had more recent success at the Mack than SDSU, which is 12-4 there in the previous five years. That includes the Mountain West tournament and three wins against UNLV in the regular season. Two areas to watch in this meeting: tempo and ball screens. The Rebels, infused with the energy of an expected sellout, will try to push the pace and dare the Aztecs to run with them. The game also matches maybe the conference’s best ball screen offense (SDSU) against one of the best defending it (UNLV). Franklin had a big game against the Rebels last month (27 points on 9-of-21 shooting), but he has gone cold lately, shooting 32.3 percent in the seven games since (30 of 93). Xavier Thames has gone from missing two weeks to playing 13 minutes against Fresno State to 21 at Colorado State. The Aztecs, No. 22 in the USA Today coaches poll, probably need a win to maintain their 27-week streak of being ranked in one of the two major polls.

Rebels outlook: UNLV coach Dave Rice has uncanny success against SDSU. In the last six seasons, Rice teams are 10-4 against the Aztecs – as the lead assistant at BYU or head coach at UNLV. “It was great for us to go in and win in Viejas Arena,” Rice said. “Anytime you do that, it’s something special. And yet the fact that we did that will probably make San Diego State even more motivated.” A key factor in that game was Rice’s decision to go small late in the game with four guards plus 6-9 Pitt transfer Khem Birch, leaving freshman Anthony Bennett (17.8 ppg, 8.6 rpg) and Mike Moser on the bench. Freshman G Katin Reinhardt (10 ppg) hurt his shoulder in the 71-56 loss at Air Force on Wednesday and is questionable. UNLV’s only home loss this season was 83-79 to Oregon.